An 86-year-old gave up his home to sail 5,000 miles with his one-eyed dog, lost his sails in two weeks, and says ‘I wasn’t afraid at all’

Harry Blodgett, an 86-year-old sailor who spent almost two months lost at sea with his one-eyed dog, Sasha, said he has no regrets about his attempted 5,000-mile Pacific voyage. “I wasn’t afraid at all,” Blodgett told the New York Times from his hospital bed in San Diego, as reported by the New York Post. “The boat was doing a great job.”

Blodgett and Sasha were rescued nearly 500 miles off the San Diego coast in October. He said the trip was the final item on his bucket list.

Blodgett set sail aboard his boat, the Willow Wind, from Astoria, Oregon, in August, with the goal of reaching Pago Pago in American Samoa, roughly 5,000 miles southwest of California. Friends reportedly tried to talk him out of the voyage after he gave up his home, sold his belongings, and moved aboard the sailboat.

He held off on calling for help for weeks

Blodgett said he lost his sails just two weeks into the journey and was nearly out of fuel after that. He described being tossed around like a “rag doll inside the hull of the boat getting banged against all the furniture and the roof of the inside of the cabin” in rough seas and strong winds. Despite that, he held off on activating his emergency position-indicating radio beacon for weeks.

The Coast Guard was contacted on October 24 after friends hadn’t heard from Blodgett in more than 60 days. Three days later, a Coast Guard station in Alameda received an emergency beacon alert from the Willow Wind, and aircraft and helicopter crews were sent to find the boat while officials asked nearby vessels to help, according to KTVU.

The boat was eventually spotted, and the motor vessel Grand Orion arrived early the following morning to rescue the pair. Coast Guard Cmdr. Jason Nguyen said Blodgett and Sasha were found alive on the sailboat’s deck and appeared to be holding up well.

Blodgett said he and Sasha survived on freeze-dried food and what he called “stinky” water. By the time they were found, they had traveled more than 1,000 nautical miles.

“That trip across the Pacific was the last item on my bucket list,” Blodgett said. “You shouldn’t give up on your dreams or your goals.”